Finally
by Ray.the.Great
Summary: Meet the Millers. Astrid, age 18, Blaze, age 16, Forrest, age 15, Faye, age 14, Toni, age 8, and Tala, age 3. They are a regular old family. Except for the fact that they are mutants, saved by Maximum Ride and her flock. This is their story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR. James Patterson does. I DO however, own my OCs, so no stealing them without my permission, got it.**

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><p>It was dark. Very dark. But then again, around here, it was always dark. <em>Now Astrid, <em>I thought to myself, _Just remember, think positive, and then- okay, who the heck am I kidding? I live in a DOG CAGE, in a LABRATORY. I'm a MUTANT FREAK. NOTHING WILL EVERY GO WELL FOR ME!_

And then the room flooded with light. I resisted the urge to yelp, and chose instead to cover my eyes. I blinked, and looked up, expecting to see the "doctors" coming to get one of us, but instead, there were...kids? There were six of them, the oldest looking to be about my age. My ears twitched. They were speaking amongst themselves. And then the untinkable happened. They began popping latches, and shooing us out of our cages. The oldest girl arrived at the cage next to mine. Faye's cage.

"Why?" trembled Faye, "Why are you doing this?" The girl smiled at her and reached out her hand.

"Because," she said, "Kids don't belong in cages." And then, she spread her wings.

"Who are you?" I asked the winged girl.

"My name," she said, "Is Maximum Ride."

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><p>I looked around my dark room tiredly. I'd just had that dream again. The one where Maximum Ride rescued us. After she set us free, me annd five others banded together to become little family. There was me, Astrid (I'm a cat mutant), Blaze (a crow mutant), Forrest (a monkey mutant), Faye (a bat mutant), and Toni and Tala (wolf mutants). Our ages were, in order: 18, 16, 15, 14, 8, and 3. I was the leader, being the oldest, and I took my role very seriously. And today was a big day, so I had to get everyone up really early.<p>

After all, today, we were going to find Maximum Ride. I crawled out of bed, put on a black skirt. striped tanktop, neon pink leggings, and black boots. Then I put my hair up in a ponytail, and poof! I was done. I took pride in the fact that I only took about five minutes to dress.

I walked out to the kitchen, where everybody but Toni was eating breakfast. Blaze was holding Tala, who was giggling and wagging her little grey tail excitedly. I took her from Blaze, and, holding Tala in one hand and reaching for the bottle with the other, put her in her high chair. Then, I poured myself a bowl of cereal, and waited for Toni to wake up. He eventually dragged himself out of his room, and then sat down. I stood up, and began to talk.

"Okay, guys, today is the day! But before we can leave, we still have a couple things left to do. Blaze, you go pack the boy's bags. Faye, you go pack the girls. Forrest, go take a shower and put on real clothes, and no, boxers only doesn't count. Toni, you go lock all the doors and windows, and I'll get Tala drressed. Everybody ready? GO!"

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><p>"Momma?" said Tala.<p>

"Yeah, _Wahya*_?"

"Where we going?" I smiled, smoothed her black-brown hair, and said,

"We're going to Pennsylvania. That's where Maximum Ride is."

"Who Massum Wide?"

"Maximum Ride is the girl who saved us_, Wahya*_. And we're gonna find her, and say thank you."

"Okay!" I finished putting her in a little pink skirt and white shirt with red hearts on it. Her caramel colored skin seemed to glow next to the white. Tala's Native American.

I picked her up and walked out to our car, a non-descript grey minivan. I buckled her into her car seat, and ran back into the house. "We're leaving!" I called. And then it hit me. We were finally leaving.

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><p>*Wahya- "wolf" in Cherokee<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi! Thank you so much for reviewing my story! I'd especially like to thank loverofbooks4eva for reviewing my story! And yes, you are my first reviewer, ever! YAY! I'm so happy, I think I shall give you one of the random alpacas I have in my closet! -gives loverofbooks4eva an alpaca- YAY! I HAS MUCINEX! THIS CRAP MAKES YOU FEEL AMAAAAAAZING! REVIEW AND GET AN ALPACA!**

**AND SOME BASIC CHARACTER INFO:**

**-Astrid is 18, and a cat-mutant**

**-Blaze is 16, and a bird-mutant**

**-Forrest is 15, and a monkey-mutant**

**-Faye is 14, and a bat-mutant**

**-Toni is 8, and a wolf-mutant**

**-Tala is 3, and a wolf-mutant**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE, J. PATTY DOES!**

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><p>"Astrid, are we there yet?" whined Toni. I turned around from the shotgun side and glared at him.<p>

"Toni, I swear on all things good and holy in this universe, if you ask one more time, you're walking home." He gulped and was silent. I turned to face Blaze. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" He nodded. Blaze had this freaky little ability where he could sense the location of anyone he'd ever met beefore in his life. Which is kind of freaky in my opinion. After all, if he wanted to, he could use this for stalking purposes. But, hey, that's just my paranoia talking. Anywhozzles, we were currently near the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and I was starting to get anxious. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was stuck in a cramped minivan with five other people, and I had sever claustrophobia. Hm. Well, and there was the fact that Tala was asleep, and she was like my life raft in a sea of anxiety. But if you woke her up from a nap, she would try to bite your hand off. Literally.

"Momma?" OHTHANKGOD! I turned around and picked up Tala from her car seat. I cradled her in my lap, and buried my face in her hair. I wondered if Maximum Ride had a person like this. Someone she could cling to in a time of extreme distress. If she didn't, I felt really bad for her.

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><p>We pulled up to a big, white farm house. It was late, about midnight. Evryone but Blaze and I were asleep, and it was (finally) quiet. I looked at Blaze.<p>

"I'm gonna go. You go park the car around the corner. I'll call when it's time for pickup. And if the coast is clear, wake up the muppets, got it?" He nodded. Hm. He does that alot...wait, Astrid. Focus. Right. Okay. With Tala in my arms, I climbed silently out of the car.

I walked around to the back of the house. There was a light on in one of the windows, and a balcony underneath said window. I wiggled hips, and leaped up to the balcony, landing silently. Yes. Still got it! Tala stirred, and I froze. If she woke up, she'd start crying. And then my cover would be blown. I peered in the window. It was her! Maximum Ride! And then, Tala woke up.

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><p>Max was reading a book, wondering about what would happen tomorrow, on their first day of real school. Maybe-<p>

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

She jumped, and turned to her window, where she sal an oddly shaped silhouette. She crept over to the window, and slammed it open, only to see somethign she thought she would never see. Ever. A pair of mutants! The first one was maybe a little older than her. She had short red hair and deep black eyes, and on her head were two little, black ears. In her arms she carried a little child who had grey dog ears and a little grey tail. I stared at them in confusion.

"Who the hell are you?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Ugh...stupid Mucinex hangover...**

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><p>"...And that's our story." I explained to a very tired looking Maximum Ride. "So, please, Maximum Ride, you must help us."<p>

"Okay, let me get this straight. You want me to save a SCIENTIST? Uh, no way, not happening!"

"But, Maximum Ri-"

"Please stop calling me that."

"What?"

"Maximum Ride. Stop calling me that. Just call me Max."

"O-okay. But, you see, this isn't just any scientist. It's my fiancee! He's been missing for months, and I need your help to find him! And even more so because I _love him_! Max, could you imagine what it would be like to lose someone you love more than you love yourself? Can you?" Max got a strange look in her eyes. It looked like...hurt. Betrayal. What had happened to her that made her so saddened?

"Yeah," said Max, "Yeah, I can imagine what it feels like. And I'll think about it, okay? Where are you staying?"

"Uhm...well...nowhere?" Max sighed.

"Well, go give me a second." She walked out of her room, leaving me with a now sleeping Tala. I sighed, lleaned back on the bed, and begaan rocking Tala.

BRING BRING BRING BRING BOOOOOOOOOW! My phone rang, scaring the shit out of me. I yelped, fumbled Tala, almost dropping her, and reached for my phone. Whoever it was, was dead.

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><p><strong>R&amp;R please? I give you llama!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Woohoo! I'm back! Anywhozzles, I'd like to thank Arianmaiden for reviewing ~hands Arianmaiden an alpaca~ See! I told you I would give you an alpaca if you reviewed. PS- check his saddlebags ;) This chapter is based on my random twitter conversations.**

**DISCLAIMA: I don't own Maximum Ride. J. Patty does.**

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><p>"And so I was like, 'nuh-uh,' and she was like, 'heck yeah!'" Nudge babbled. I, Faye, looked around the cafeteria. It was loud and crowdded, putting my nerves on edge. I stared at, oh, what was his name...Iggy! Yeah! I stared at Iggy. He was HOTT. Yes, hott. With TWO t's. And, even better, he was blind. So he couldn't see me and my wierd tattoos. Yes, I have tattoos, now get over it. Plus, he was my age, which made it al-<p>

"BOO!" I jumped, shrieked, and slapped Forrest upside the head. He scared living...daylights...out of me!

"FORREST! I SWEAR TO GOD, IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL CASTRATE YOU WITH A DULL, RUSTY SPOON, DAMMIT!" He paled, knowing I wasn't kidding. I don't bluff. Ever. He slowly walked away, and I turned around and sighed.

It was our first day of school, and so far, it was pretty crappy. Okay, so I did make some new friends. In fact, they were headed my way right now. The three girls sat down at my table. THe first one had shoulder length brown hair and green eyes. Her name was Rachel. The second girl was a little taller than Rachel and had slightly longer blonde hair and grey eyes. The third was a grade higher than the others, had curly, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, and her name was Sarah. They were okay. Really freaking random, but okay.

"Hey Faye," said Rachel, "What was our homework in history?"

"Pages 78 and 80 in the workbook."

"Okely dokely. So, how are you liking the school so far?" I looked around.

"Eh, it's okay. Kinda boring." Laura laughed

"Yeah," she twanged, "That's gotta be the understatement of the year."

"Mhm." said Sarah. So we talked and laughed the rest of the lunch away,

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><p>I walked up to the door of the big barn we were staying in. Sort of.<p>

You see, we were kind of tresspassers. This barn was on the property of Maximum Ride's "house". I remembered when we first got here.

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><p><em>"Faye. Hey, Faye, wake up" came the voice of Forrest. I slowly opened my eyes, only to see his big brown orbs right in front of mine.<em>

_"YAAGH! Dammit, Forrest, I swear on all things good and holy, I-_

_"Okay, okay!" he said, ruffling my blonde hair, "I get it. Don't do it again." I swatted his hand away grumpily. He pouted. I grinned happily. Then it hit me._

_"Hey, Forrest, why did you wake me up in the first place?" He looked ahead solemnly. _

_"Because, Maximum Ride has agreed to meet with us, and we need to be awake." Oh. So, we climbed out of the van, I picked up Toni, who was falling asleep, and we walked to the big, white farm house where Maximum Ride was staying. Blaze, Forrest and I leaped up onto the balcony where Astrid was waiting for us. She motioned for us to follow her, and we did, leading us into the house. There in the room, was Maximum Ride and her flock. THey introduced themselves. There was Max, Fang, Iggy (who was EXTREMELY HOTT), Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. Then, we introduced ourselves. After all the greetings were exchanged, Max looked at us. _

_"Okay," she said, "I have talked with your leader, and I have decided that we will help you-" We all cheered! Harlow, Astrid's fiancee, was already a part of the family, so for Max to agree to help us, it was a big deal. Max shushed us. We quieted down. _

_"But, I have one condition. You gotta help us in return." We all nodded. Getting to help Maximum Ride! Oh boy! "Now,' she continued, "Where will I be able to find you?" I giggled._

_"At school, tomorrow. We're gonna be going, too! Well, everyone except for Astrid and Tala. And I noticed a big barn way over in the distance. Mind if we crash there?" Max sighed, and nodded. Yes! We were in!_

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><p><strong>Woohoo! longest chapter yet! Don't forget the little green button! You know you wanna click it ;).<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Yay! New chapter! Okay, so it's kind of a filler, but still! A chapter! And it DOES have some purpose. Believe it or not**

**Arianmaiden: lol Fang the alpaca! and I'm in the prcoess of reading Angel, so don't spoil the ending, please! And thank you for your continuos comments!**

**Epic Cheez: ? I think you mean Faye, not Astrid. Oh well. -hands Epic Cheez an alpaca-**

**dis is a claimer: I don't own Maximum RIde. J Patty does.**

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><p>Faye<p>

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><p>I entered the barn, looking around at the spacious...space...yeah... Anywhozzles, I spread my red and black wings and flew to the top of the hay loft. I giggled at the sight. Tala was playing with Astrid's hair. Astrid had a very pained expression on her face. I couldn't stop giggling. Astrid HATED it when people touched her hair, and currently, Tala was having a field day with it. Astrid glared at me, and I waved at her happily. Why was I so happy? Because I'd been invited to a sleepover at my friend Rachel's house. It would be her, Sarah, Laura, and me. It was so exciting! I skipped up to Astrid.<p>

"What are you so happy about?" She winced as Tala pulled extra hard.

"I've been invited to a sleep over! Can I go? Please please please please please please pl-"

"OKAY! YOU CAN GO!" I cheered, jumping up and down. Yay!

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><p>I rang the door bell of Rachel's home. Her platinum blonde mom opened the door, holding back a medium sized dog. She smiled at me. "Come in, come in!" So I did. Rachel had a nice sized house. Her mom pointed at the stairs. "The girls are up there." I climbed the stairs, and was immediately able to find her room (her door was painted to look like a field of flowers. Rachel painted it herself). I opened the door, and was greeted with purple walls, a huge bookshelf crammed with thick books, walls covered with posters of Paramore, Breaking Benjamin, Fireflight, Green Day, Jimi Hendrix, and many many more, and three girls sitting on a large, four-post bed. This was the first time I'd seen them outside of school uniform. Rachel wore black leggings, an oversized striped tshirt, and white biker gloves. Sarah wore an orange tshirt and faded jeans, and Laura had on a pale pink sundress that reached her knees. I wore grey sweatpants and a blue polo. I smiled, and they motioned me over to the bed. I climbed on.<p>

"Were you able to find the place easily?" asked Rachel kindly. I nodded and looked around again.

"What are you guys doing?" Rachel, Sarah, and Laura grinned evilly.

"We're splitting up jobs for when we go to Walmart to wreak havoc!" twanged Laura. Oh boy. This would be fun

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><p>I collapsed on Rachel's bed, laughing hysterically. We'd just gotten back from Walmart, and boy did we have fun! It only took an hour for all four of us to get kicked out. Rachel sat up and looked at all of us.<p>

"Yay, crack!"

"Crack?"

"No, crack-tarts."

"Ooooooh."

"Yeah, anyone want some crack-tarts?"

"ME!" we all yelled

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><p>. Rachel laughed, skipped downstairs, and returned with cherry-flavored poptarts. We ate them hungrily. I sighed sadly. I didn't ever get to do this stuff. Because we were always on the run, andd never stayed anywhere for more than a few weeks, I never got to make any friends. Always running, running, running away from Howlers.<p>

Howlers were these strange mutants from the lab where we were from. They were howler monkeys with human heads and sharp claws that had very carnivorous appetites. Every time an expiriment failed, they were fed to the Howlers. They'd eat anything and everything. They were more dangerous than Erasers (of which we had quite a few), and they were the source of my nightmares.

"FAYE!" I jumped.

"WHAT? WHAT?" Sarah sighed.

"You were spacing out on us. We asked if you wanted to see a movie."

"Oh. Sure."

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><p>The moon shone brightly through the windows of Rachel's room. I sat against the wall, staring at the moon. It was big tonight. I had been unable to sleep, and so I watched everyone else, when all of a sudden, the moonlight was blocked out. My head whipped up. There in the window was a gruesome, ugly, grinning face.<p>

It was a Howler!

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><p><strong>Haha, I'm a jerk, so I'll leave it there. I want reviews from AT LEAST 4 people before I update again! D Now, REVIEW!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**I'd like to thank my reviewers:**

**Arianmaiden: woah! a bigger cliffhanger than mine! I can't wait to finish the story! And I hope the next one is called Iggy (slight Iggy obsession)!**

**Epic Cheez: lol, you're right. They ARE like little brothers! And to answer your question,I put up a poll on my page. Go vote!**

**Yeah, yeah, I know I said I'd wait until I got 4 reviewers, but hey. Whatever. Can't keep my beloved readers waiting!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. J Patty does**

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><p>It was a Howler!<p>

My system suddenly wentt on defense mode. I sprang up, crouched down, and was about to pounce when I realized that the other girls were still in the room. Sh*t! I couldn't do anything they were around. Then, a raspy, screechy voice filled my ears.

"Yooooooooou want to protect your friends, how sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet, my lovelyyyyyyyyy. But, I am a reeeeeeeeeeasonable maaaaaaaaaaaan," it hissed, "Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii will maaaaaaaaaake you a deeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaal. You come with meeeee, and I'll leeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaave your precious little friennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnds aloooooooooooooooooone. Although I muuuuuuuuuuuuust admit, they dooooooooooo look verrrrrrrrrrrrry tastyyyyyy." It cackled. I stood up and, knowing it could hear me, whispered,

"Alright, Howler. You got yourself a deal."

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><p>"Hey, Faye." I froze, and slowly turned around. There, leaning against the doorway in her black Hello Kitty pyjamas, stood Rachel.<p>

"Um, y-yeah?" She tossed me something. I caught it, and almost dropped it when I realized what it was. It was a knife!

"Thought you might need that."

"But, but how-" she winked at me.

"I have my ways. Oh, and when you hear me say 'duck,' duck." She walked back into the room, leaving me standing in the hallway, confused as heck. What did she mean by that? Oh well. I would ask her in the morning, but for now, I had a date with destiny.

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><p>I opened the back door, feeling the cool air bite my warm skin. I shivered, and spread my wings, leaping into the air and searching for the Howler. I found it sitting next to a large oak tree. I landed in a crouching position, knife in my hand. I stared at it disgustedly, wishing it a horrible, gruesome death. We stared at each other for a moment, and then it lunged at me, blood encrusted claws barely missing my throat. I hissed, and leaped backwards, summersaulting in midair. It ran at me, and I swung out my leg, knocking it to the ground. It sprang up, sending a powerful right hook into my jaw. I flew backwards, landing breathlessly on the muddy ground. I coughed, and noticed a bit of blood seeping from the corner of my mouth. Great. It noticed the blood and cackled, leaping foreward towards my prone form lying on the ground. I rolled away, just as its claws slammed into the ground, missing me by mere inches. It growled, and attempted to pull its hand from the squelchy mud, but was unsuccesful. I stood up shakily, and was about to slam the knife into the creature's back, wh-<p>

"DUCK!" I hit the ground, and heard the sound of a gun being fired. I looked back to see Rachel standing in the doorway with Laura and Sarah, Laura holding the gun, Rachel with a sword, and Sarah with a...spork? Uh...okay.

Rachel lept from the doorway, sword flashing in the moonlight, and sliced off the creature's head. She landed on her feet, sheethed her sword, and turned to look at me. She grinned, and my jaw dropped, because what I saw then made me awestruck. She had pointed teeth and sharp nails. How had I not noticed that before?

"Um, Rachel-"

"Tiger mix. You?"

"Bat. Where are you from?"

"New Yawk, baby. And so are you."

"But, how-"

She shook her head. "I have my ways. Now common, get inside and get washed up. You look like heck."

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><p><strong>REVIEW! And this was my first fight scene ever, so please don't be too harsh!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi guys! Sorry that I took so long to update, I was sick :'( But your reviews made me feel better!**

**Arianmaiden: haha, yeah, a spork!**

**Epic Cheez: Yes, there is. So deal with it :P**

**LOL. I don't own Maximum Ride, J Patty does.**

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><p>"FORREST!" I jumped. Who was disturbing my beauty sleep? They shall be punished! I shall-<p>

THWACK.

"Ow! Jerk!" My head spun arouond to face a very pissed off Blaze. I grinned sheepishly.

"H-Hey, there, Blaze! How ya doing, buddy?" I gave hima huge, cheesy-taco filled grin, only to get a right-hook to the jaw.

"SON OF A MOTHER DUCK! WHAT IN THE NAME OF DEAD ALIENS WAS THAT FOR!" Blaze clenched his jaw, closed his eyes, and hiss orange hair covered his eyes, giving him a somber look.

"Because," he whispered, "You were supposed to warn us." He looked up. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN US?" My brown tail scratched by darker brown hair. What was he talking about? Wait a second...my spidey senses were tingling...oh cheez wiz!1!

You need to know something about me. I have a 'third eye.' I can see anybody I know wherever they are. Including Howlers. And right now, Faye was being attacked by one! Oh no. As much as I enjoyed teasing her, I still cared about her and her freaky tattoos. You know, as a brother. I couldn't date her. I mean, talk about AWKWARD! We were best friends! Mostly because our cages were right next to each others. I gulped, jumped up, put on my shoes, and ran outside, followed by Blaze.

"Where's Astrid?" I asked without looking at him. We were sprinting now, going about 60 mph. We would be there soon.

"She's holding down the fort." I nodded, and we picked up speed. I leaped into the trees, and bounded from branch to branch, going even faster than I could on foot. Blaze spread his tan wings and flew above me, going just as fast as I was. THERE! I saw the house where Faye was staying at. I saw Faye being lead into the house by a short, cute, brown haired girl.

"FAYE!" I called out. Her friends pulled out their weapons, aiming them at me. Faye waved to me, and the other girls put the weapons down, looking at us cautiously. I ran up to her and hugged her tightly. She smiled, then hugged me back.

"I'm so sorry, Faye! I should havev been here sooner." She laughed.

"Idiot! It's 2 am, you were asleep, you couldn't have known." I laughed, ruffled her hair, and turned to face her friends.

"Soooooo...wanna introduce me to your friends?" I winked at the cute brunette, and she blushed slightly. Oh yeah. I was good.

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><p>After introductions were done, Rachel, the brunette, lead us into her house. I walked up to her, slung my arms around her shoulders, and whispered, "So, ya wanna ditch these losers and go grab some waffles and a movie?" She looked at me and grinned, her sharp canines showing.<p>

"How about tonight? Meet me here at 7, and be dressed casually. There's a carnival in town that I want to go to, so you cool with that?" I grinned like an idiot.

"Well, I'll see you at seven."

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><p><strong>Review please! Give me some ideas as to what should happen on Rachel and Forrest's date! I NEED IDEAS! AND I WILL GIVE YOU A FREAKING ALPACA!<strong>

**Please? For a sick person?**


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